Protect Communities from Harm Caused by El Dorado International Airport

The noise generated by El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia is harming the health and well-being of neighboring communities. An independent report, released on 5 June 2017, confirms that the airport has violated national and international standards designed to prevent that harm.

Sign this petition to demand that the airport operators – Aerocivil, OPAIN and Codad – and their investors urgently take steps to protect community health.

We call on airport operators to engage with community representatives to discuss potential solutions.

We call on the investors in the project to support this conversation and to demand proper noise impact evaluation and mitigation.

And we call on affected communities, Bogotá residents and their supporters to sign this petition, to lend your voice to these demands.

If you’re wondering “noise pollution, how bad can that be?” – you need to watch the first 40-seconds of this video (embedded above).

As you can see, communities living adjacent to El Dorado Airport are not experiencing the ‘standard noise’ you expect near any airport. The noise generated by the airport is so loud that when a plane flies overhead, people have to pause any conversation (they could keep talking, but you wouldn’t hear them). If they can sleep, they wake many times a night. Aerocivil is required to install insulation in homes and community buildings, however that insulation is incomplete, inadequate and poorly maintained. Many homes have no insulation at all.

Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering. A 2014 study by Aerocivil revealed that, on a single night, more than 200,000 people within the vicinity of the airport were exposed to noise levels higher than the national noise limit for residential areas.

This comes at a huge cost to communities. Studies have found thatthere is a relationship between the noise generated by the airport and harm to the health of nearby residents.

Children are particularly vulnerable, suffering from elevated rates of hearing damage and developmental delay. “When [Gabriela] was five years old and didn’t talk, it was found that she had 40% hearing loss in one of her ears and 20% in the other. This has caused problems in the development of her speech, affected her cognitive function and delayed her academic development," explained Julio Ramón Acosta Téllez. His daughter, Gabriela, was born within the zone worst-affected by the operation of the airport.

The airport operators’ indifference to human suffering must stop. Please sign and share this petition to urge the airport operators and their investors urgently take steps to protect community health!

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